Two U.S. warships in the Mediterranean Sea, the USS Ross and the USS Porter, fired 59 Tomahawk missiles intended for a single target — Shayrat Airfield in Homs province in western Syria, the Defense Department said. That's the airfield from which the United States believes the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fired the banned weapons... (Link)

On the one hand, that’s more than Obama did to enforce the “red line.” On the other hand, it’s rather a sharp turnabout for Trump, isn’t it?

On Facebook, a friend comments that half the point of this was doing it while the Chinese president was with him. And Richard Fernandez notes: “The bitter fruit of Obama’s war by executive order is now upon us. Whatever happened to Congress’ war powers?”

Neither Democrats nor Republicans would assert those powers under Obama. Who will do so now? But this does seem more like a continuation of Obama’s mideast policies than a reversal of them. Which, given how they turned out, isn’t promising.

UPDATE: Bibi was right, Obama was wrong: “Benjamin Netanyahu will never be popular in America’s major newsrooms. Or among most of the think-tankers who set the tone and parameters of foreign-policy debate. His name is a curse on college campuses. So it’s worth asking whose vision of the Middle East has held up better under the press of recent events.”

I'm glad that there will be no further chemical attacks taking off from this particular airfield at least not any time soon. (Thanks Navy!) But this action should be limited and not the start of regime change or helping the rebels or getting our boots on the ground stuck in the mud.

Nasty fucks like Assad who use WMD against civilians deserve to get bitch-slapped down. And now that we have done that we should stop right here. Our own 'redline' that will not be crossed.

I'm disappointed that it took 59 missiles to destroy just one airfield. The missiles are about $1 million a piece. But then looking at the airfield on Google Earth, there were about 23 hardened hangers, 8 armament bunkers, and 2 runways, so that's about 40 missiles targets right there.

I voted for Trump so this interventionist stuff would end. Unintended consequences always pop up when force is used. Why anger the Russian bear? Who knows what the Chinese and their satellite North Korea will take away from this? Maybe that freak who rules North Korea will get even more agitated and launch. And if Assad is weakened those sweetheart Sunnis and Shiites are strengthened.

I hope this is not a gateway to full military commitment, also known as regime change. I have had enough of Middle East shit.

As I say, I think this is intended to send a message, rather than a real policy move. One wonders if Trump's "let's pick our fights a bit more judiciously" policy was viewed in some foreign capitals as more leading from behind. If so, that may have been the point of the exercise.

“In words and actions President Trump sent a strong and clear response: The use of chemical weapons is unacceptable,” Netanyahu stated. “Israel fully and unequivocally supports the presidents decision and hopes the clear message will reverberate not only in Damascus but also in Tehran, Pyongyang and other places.”

This is just more of the same neocon bullshit that we have been served up for the last thirty years.

Syria is for Syrians. Let them sort out their own problems. Don't react to propaganda that is put on TV. We just had the anniversary of our entry into World War 1. Facilitated by propagandist about the poor women and children of Belgium ravaged by the Dirty Hun. Have we not learned anything? How many Americans have to die to satisfy the blood lust of McCain, Graham and Bill Kristol?

Trooper York said...This is a horrendous horrible mistake. The proof in the pudding is who is praising this?

McCain. Graham. Little Marco. The media. The Democrats.

It is a debacle.

Syria is not our problem. Sarin Gas is not our problem. They are killing children in Chicago everyday. That is what we need to pay attention too not raghead goat fucking Syrians.

Trump is basically taking over the mantle that Obama didn't have the balls to do himself. Not to mention this is the natural outcome of when you are a filthy piece of traitorous shit like obama that has lied repeadidly about Syria and the middle-east in general only to have the truth come out. Syria was not supposed to have WMD/Chem/Bio weapons. Urkel gets another "Did I do that?" and Trump has to clean up the fucking mess.

When Trump said that the previous administration left him a mess, this is a part of that mess. The lies, the cover-ups, the bullshit. Trump used this opportunity on multiple fronts. It may be a disaster in terms of what you think he has done as some sort of neo-con function, but I don't see it that way and I don't think he does either. I believe he saw it from a more humanitarian point of view in that imagery stirred him to action. He asked for timing and advice and acted on it.

It was a selective strike. I understand with what was said earlier that a couple of B2's with JDAM's would have done the trick at half the cost, but a fly-over like that would have risked pilots vs. a missile frigate parked far away with Tomahawks being a much safer bet. If we are going to start exercising our military might again, then I don't think cost should be a factor in imposing your will onto an enemy. If we are going to prosecute conflicts based on cost, then we are fucked.

One thing to keep in mind is that Reagan hit Khadaffy hard just once and he basically stayed in his box for the rest of his life (Dubya's attack on Iraq scared him enough to seal the deal).

It's no disaster. I do think he could have waited for a more fitting opportunity (as Troop says, what Pencil Neck does really isn't our business - unless he tries to use it on our guys), but he know stuff we don't. As I say, he's meeting with Red China's main cutthroat and it does give him food for thought that won't leave him hungry an hour later.

Methadras said...

Trump is basically taking over the mantle that Obama didn't have the balls to do himself

You're beginning to see some of that thinking in the commentary on this. No Red Lines, just do it.

Syria was not supposed to have WMD/Chem/Bio weapons.

My money is on the proposition, if the Pencil Neck has it, it's the stuff trucked out of Iraq by the Russkies right before we went in.

This is like the cops getting involved in gang bangers shooting it out. You are only going to get jammed up trying to stop it. The press and the "community" are only going to blame you instead of the animals who are killing each other.

Look let the Shites kill the Sunni and Sunni kill the Shites. If Russia or China want to get involved let them. They will regret it. Bigly. We don't need the oil anymore. If the goat humping Muslim scumbags are killing each other they will leave the Jews alone for once. Let them kill each other. It is none of our business.

Dead kids. Do the same thing I do when I see the starving dogs on the commercial with that wailing Lesbian. Change the channel to the MMA.

Let them kill each other and then send in the sanitation department to sweep it up. Or let them rot. That would be best.

Something involving us directly would have made more sense, granted; you can make a case this more like Willie nuking Koresh and his followers to show he's tough on something than, say, Grenada where Reagan drew a line in the sand for Fidel and the Ortega brothers.

I think there's a rush to judgment unless we know what the future holds.

PS Anybody seen anyone on the Net complaining about Mattis being too Liberal? Saw a piece on that somewhere.

I've said that if this is a one off I'm okay with it. This had larger implications of simply going after Assad. The stars aligned for Trump on this because there are vastly larger implications here. I'm defending him because I think he made the right decision. If he made the wrong one, I'd say so. This was a four-fer as far as I'm concerned and it's funny to watch all the talking heads pontificate on exactly what I've been saying.